


I've Noticed

by westandvigilant



Series: O How the Mighty Fall in Love [9]
Category: Les Misérables - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-25
Updated: 2016-04-25
Packaged: 2018-06-04 08:54:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 899
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6651241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/westandvigilant/pseuds/westandvigilant
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>in which enjolras and éponine discuss something of little to no consequence jesus christ they’ve got more important things to be doing for god’s sake.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I've Noticed

She is annoying him.

He can’t decide if she is doing it on purpose or not, but she is annoying him to no end. Casually flipping through an economics book that she isn’t reading. Popping her gum and swinging her damnably long legs with so much force that she is smacking him in the shins with her bare feet over and over again.

Without looking up, he starts addressing her. “You know, you didn’t have to come to the library with me if you didn’t actually need to study. It seems a little counter productive, really.”

 

She lifts her gaze from the book and looks at him with a cocked eyebrow, her amber colored eyes feigning like she doesn’t know exactly what he is talking about.

“Oh, no. I’m fine.”

“Good, then keep your feet on the floor. You’re being childish.”

There is a beat of silence before she slides her foot over to his and begins shoving it with just enough pressure to be harassing. He kicks her foot away and then her heel smashes into his knee.

The sound echoes throughout the hall and a very frazzled looking redheaded girl pokes out from her cubicle to glare at the couple. Éponine gives her a sweet smile and tells her to mind her own fucking business.

She looks back to Enjolras to see that she has his full attention, his mouth pulled so tight she thinks it might just snap.

“Knock. It. Off.” He grates out.

“Relax,” she whispers.

“I just don’t understand what you want. I told you I was coming to the library and yet you still insisted on joining me.”

Éponine rolls her eyes and sits all the way back in her chair while crossing her arms. “Well, this is the only way I get to spend time with you, so…”

“The past few weeks haven’t exactly been easy for either of us. But,” his features soften just a little bit and he closes his book, ”It is something you’re going to have to get used to in some sense. I’m working on a dissertation. I’m never going to not be busy in some way. I am sorry though. Perhaps we should start setting aside a date night of some sort. Would you like that?”

She gives him a slow smile and leans forward with her elbows on the old walnut table. He indulges himself with just a small peek down her shirt. It has been a rough week, anyway.

“What and miss this? You really know how to show a girl a good time. You always bring your girlfriends to the library?”

He chuckles to himself and reopens his book. “Who says I’ve had any girlfriends to bring to the library?”

“Bullshit.”

“I shit you not,” he says with a mix of sharpness and exasperation, raised eyebrows and disdainful frowns.

Éponine leans further over the desk because she simply can’t believe what he’s telling her. “You mean to tell me that you’ve had no significant others since… forever? No relationships at all?”

“Well, I’ve slept with a few people if that’s what you’re asking.”

“That’s not what I’m asking,” they stare at each other. 

“I haven’t had other romantic relationships,” he answers calmly. 

Then her mouth curves up in that wicked way that he loves and she leans even further, her stomach flat on the table, staring up at him with mischievous eyes. "Is there anyone who would be pissed to hear you say that?“ 

"Say what?’

She drops her voice into a low register, using this weird dialect that she speaks with when she’s imitating him. It sounds vaguely like Ygritte imitating Jon Snow on that show. “I don’t have romantic relationships.”

A smirk flashes over his lips for the barest hint of a second as he searches through his memories. Through faces and shared smiles and tangled limbs until one of those ghosts reaches out and grabs him. Hungry. Desperate.

"Yes,” he says “I had a partner sophomore year of my undergrad.”

Éponine drops back into her chair with a bark of laughter.

“A partner? In, like, what? A law firm?”

“No,” he says slowly, turning his eyes to his book once more. “Don’t be silly, I had a boyfriend.”

“You…" Her head ducks low, avoiding eye contact. “You never told me.”

"You never asked.”

Now they are silent in the way that electricity is silent: not making any noise and yet the air around them snaps and crackles away. He takes that to mean that she is stunned. It’s amusing. And because it has been a terribly long week, he revels in it. For just a moment.

Then he decides to break the silence, it’s been going on too long to be comfortable. He looks up to see her staring off into the distance.

“Something have you distracted?” When she doesn’t return her attention to him, he feels a seed of worry blossoming, churning his stomach sour. He draws his focus back into the familiar pages of his book, unable to meet her gaze. Painting his marble mask on once more.

“I trust this isn’t a problem for you?”

“Not all,” she states in a voice full of smirk, cracking open her own book again. “That guy over by the circulation desk just has a nice ass.”

He doesn’t remove his eyes from the book in front of him.

“I’ve noticed.”


End file.
